February 9-12
Sesshin at the Monastery Practice Center.
This is a “no-needs” retreat for experienced meditators only, please. There is sitting and walking meditation throughout the day punctuated only by meals and brief periods of working meditation.  “No-needs” refers to the request that all participants, monks and guests, come to the intensive prepared in such a way that they make no demands on the monks: no toothpaste forgotten, no dead batteries, no illnesses, no notes posted - nothing that will pull any participant away from the focus on meditation.

Registration Pledge: $180.

To sign up: please follow the registration instructions on the LivingCompassion.org website. The last day for registering is January 26. Registrations will not be accepted after this date. When filling out your Personal Information Form please:

• Select Sesshin from the drop down list of retreats
• Select February 9 from the drop down list of start dates

February 11, 2006
How To Have The Life You Want By Being Present
To The Life You Have
Monk Workshop in Pittsburgh, PA
10 am - 4 pm
Often we look at our lives and the condition of the world and feel hopeless. It seems there is so much "wrong" and one person cannot make a difference. But we can make a difference. We can accept what life is offering, come into the present moment, and move toward loving kindness and compassion. We can be kind to ourselves, and we can be kind to others. We cannot know the effect kindness will have on the world, but we know intimately the effect it has on us. When we turn to our hearts, when we open to compassion, we begin to be present to what is. In this movement, we find the life we want. .

Registration Pledge: $60

To sign up: visit the Registration Pledge Payment page on the LivingCompassion.org website. Registration has been extended until noon on Friday, February 10. To register, please call the Monastery office (209-728-0860) during office hours. When paying your registration pledge please:

• Select Pittsburgh Workshop from the drop down list of retreats
• Select February 11 from the drop down list of start dates

February 15-19
Retreat with Cheri at the Monastery
What is Zen?

Registration pledge: $240.

To sign up: please follow the registration instructions on the LivingCompassion.org website. The last day for registering is February 1. Registrations will not be accepted after this date. When filling out your Personal Information Form please:

• Select Monastery Retreat from the drop down list of retreats
• Select February 15 from the drop down list of start dates

March 3-10
There Is Nothing Wrong With You
At the Zen Monastery Practice Center.
This eight-day retreat allows us to look directly at how we have been rejecting and punishing ourselves and discovering how to let that go. Through a variety of exercises and periods of group processing, participants will gain a clearer perspective on how thy live their lives and on how to find compassion for themselves and others.

Registration pledge: $420.

To sign up: please follow the registration instructions on the LivingCompassion.org website. The last day for registering is February 17. Registrations will not be accepted after this date. When filling out your Personal Information Form please:

• Select There Is Nothing Wrong With You from the drop down list of retreats
• Select March 3 from the drop down list of start dates

March 21
Africa News, Updates, and Refreshments
Palo Alto Zen Center
7:00 – 9:00 pm.
An evening of video clips, music, refreshments, and stories from Zambia.

To sign up: Please send an email to registration@livingcompassion.org or call 209-728-0860

March 22
Africa News, Updates, and Refreshments
Murphys, CA.
An evening of video clips, music, refreshments, and stories from Zambia.

To sign up: Please send an email to registration@livingcompassion.org or call 209-728-0860

April 14-21
There Is Nothing Wrong With You
At the Zen Monastery Practice Center.
This eight-day retreat allows us to look directly at how we have been rejecting and punishing ourselves and to discovering how to let that go. Through a variety of exercises and periods of group processing, participants will gain a clearer perspective on how they live their lives and on how to find compassion for themselves and others.
Registration pledge: $420.

To sign up: please follow the registration instructions on the LivingCompassion.org website. The last day for registering is March 31. Registrations will not be accepted after this date. When filling out your Personal Information Form please:

• Select There Is Nothing Wrong With You from the drop down list of retreats
• Select April 14 from the drop down list of start dates

April 17
Compassionate Self-Discipline with Cheri in New York at the Integral Yoga Institute.
7-9 pm. To register: 212-929-0586 ext. 10.

April 19
Unconditional Self-Acceptance
An Evening of Conversation with Cheri Huber
Boston, MA, 7-9pm
Cambridge Friends Meeting House
5 Longfellow Park, off Brattle Street, and near Harvard Square in Cambridge
For more information call Marilynn at 617 308 0406

April 22, 2006, Saturday
How To Have The Life You Want By Being Present
To The Life You Have
Workshop in Philadelphia
Where: Center City Philadelphia
Time: 10 am - 4 pm

Workshop Description: Often we look at our lives and the condition of the world and feel hopeless. It seems there is so much "wrong" and one person cannot make a difference. But we can make a difference. We can accept what life is offering, come into the present moment, and move toward loving kindness and compassion. We can be kind to ourselves, and we can be kind to others. We cannot know the effect kindness will have on the world, but we know intimately the effect it has on us. When we turn to our hearts, when we open to compassion, we begin to be present to what is. In this movement, we find the life we want.

REGISTRATION

Registration Pledge: $60.

To sign up: visit the Registration Pledge Payment page on the LivingCompassion.org website. The last day to register is April 8. We will not accept registration after that date. When paying your registration pledge please:

• Select Philadelphia Workshop from the drop down list of retreats
• Select April 22 from the drop down list of start date

April 30 – May 7
Zen and Yoga Retreat in Assisi, Italy with Cheri and Christa
Please join us in Assisi, Italy for a Zen, Yoga, and Pilates retreat. We will be staying in a beautiful agriturismo (a working farm that hosts guests), enjoying home-grown, organic Italian feasts three times each day, just a few kilometers outside the village. The part we’re particularly excited about is that the retreat will happen during the Calendimaggio Festival. (Google Calendimaggio for a number of sites offering details.) Briefly, Assisi turns back the clock to the time of St. Francis and St. Clare, in the early 1200s, complete with costumes, parades, singing, dancing, and a performance competition between the people of the hills and the people of the valley—as existed back then. Additionally, the odds are good that the poppies will be blooming, which is a breath-taking, heart-stopping spectacle in its own right. And, we will take a day-trip to Firenze (Florence) during the retreat. There will be plenty of time each day to relax, walk, explore the area, and immerse ourselves in the ambiance of Italy. In daily workshops we will bring conscious, compassionate awareness to body, emotions, and mind through movement, meditation, and group discussion. There will be an opportunity for a private session with Christa and Cheri during the retreat. We guarantee that on this vacation retreat, personal awareness is easy, accessible, and fun.

Price includes meals at the retreat, lodging, retreat activities, and the festival. Transportation to and from Assisi, to and from Firenze, and around the area will be the responsibility of the participant. Airfare is not included. You can fly into either Florence or Rome, and from there it is easy to take a train to Assisi. (2.5 hours from Florence and 2.25 hours from Rome) Plan to arrive Sunday, April 30th, (you must leave the USA on the 29th) and depart Sunday May 7th.

If you are seriously considering this retreat, please let us know as soon as possible so we can purchase festival tickets for you. Tickets sell out quickly and may not be available if we wait too long. For advance sign-up discount, please have your 50% deposit payment to us by February 1, 2006.

Single room in apartment - $1410
Single room in 2 bedroom apartment - $1370
Double room in 2 bedroom apartment - $1320

Sign up and pay 50% by February 1st and take $200 off! For more information, call 209-559-1969.

To sign up: please follow the registration instructions on the LivingCompassion.org website. The last day for registering is April 16. Registrations will not be accepted after this date. When filling out your Personal Information Form please:

• Select Zen and Yoga Retreat from the drop down list of retreats
• Select April 29 from the drop down list of start dates

May 13-20
Ego, Ending Suffering and Enlightenment
Retreat with Cheri at the Monastery

Registration pledge: $420.

 Prerequisites for this retreat: at least two retreats with Cheri and a There Is Nothing Wrong With You retreat. If you have completed the prerequisites and would like to attend, please follow the registration instructions on the livingCompassion.org website. The last day for registering is April 29. Registrations will not be accepted after this date. When filling out your Personal Information Form please:

• Select  Monastery Retreat  from the drop down list of retreats
• Select  May 13 from the drop down list of start dates

May 20-June 18
Meditation Hall Building Retreat at the Monastery
Come for the whole month or for one or more weeks. No prior building experience required. In addition to building, many other types of working meditation: keeping up the Monastery grounds, purchasing supplies, cooking, and supporting the building efforts. There will be the usual schedule of meditation, group discussions, and individual guidance.

Registration Pledge: $700 for the whole month, or $350 for each week (retreatants coming for one week will arrive on  a Saturday and depart on the next Saturday)

* We will give priority to those who would like to come for the entire month so if you know you would like to come for a month, please let us know ASAP.

To sign up: please follow the registration instructions on the LivingCompassion.org website. The last day for registering is May 6. Registrations will not be accepted after this date. When filling out your Personal Information Form please:

• Select Monastery Retreat  from the drop down list of retreats
• Select May 20  from the drop down list of start dates (if you are coming any time during this month long retreat)

June 20
The Zen of Compassionate Living: An Evening of Conversation with Cheri Huber. 7 PM. Unitarian Church of Harrisburg, 1280 Clover Lane, Harrisburg, PA 17113. No tickets or registration. Reception and book signing will follow and donations to Cheri's work will be accepted. Phone: 717-564-4761. UCH web: www.uchuua.org. Email: office@uchuua.org. Mindfulness Meditation Group: uchuua.org/mmg.htm.

June 21-24
Pittsburgh Retreat at the Kearns Center for Spirituality
This is our annual practice retreat with Cheri and the monks. The schedule will be sitting, and walking meditation, group discussions, great vegetarian meals, yoga, and individual guidance.

Registration Pledge: $240

To sign up: please follow the registration instructions on the LivingCompassion.org website. When filling out your Personal Information Form please:

• Select Pittsburgh Retreat  from the drop down list of retreats
• Select June 21 from the drop down list of start dates

June 30 - July 2
Compassionate Self-Discipline Workshop with Cheri at Yogaville, Virginia
You have been taught to believe that life should be different from how it is and that if you were different--better, smarter, thinner, richer, (which you would be if only you had more self-discipline!)--life would be as it should be and you would be happy. As it is, life isn't the way it should be, and it is your fault. As usual, what we have been taught to believe is not true. Life is exactly the way it is, life is not a matter of fault, and no amount of self-discipline, compassionate or otherwise, is going to give anyone control over life.

There are two kinds of self-discipline, just as there are two kinds of everything. There is the self-discipline of ego-strict, harsh, and punishing-and there is self-discipline from center, which does not feel like discipline at all. From center, rather than feeling disciplined, one feels supported, assisted, guided, and nurtured."

In this workshop participants will discover how their efforts at self-discipline are sabotaged from the outset, and how to find within themselves the compassion necessary for affecting the change they want to see in their lives.

Price includes tuition, housing & vegetarian meals:
Dormitory: $335
Tent Site: $275
Private Room/Shared Bath: $395
Private Room/Private Bath: $435

To sign up: Visit the YogaVille website.

(Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville is located on the James River in the rolling foothills of the Ridge Mountains in central Virginia, 40 miles south of Charlottesville and 150 miles southwest of Washington, DC.)

August 12
Africa Trip Update and Silent Auction
Palo Alto Zen Center
Times: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Come welcome the Living Compassion team back from Africa -- hear the music, see the photos, and get an update on the projects.

We are planning a fun fundraiser for this welcome back event. Please find an item in your home that you have treasured but are now ready to let go and bring it with you for a silent auction. The price of admission will be your auction item.

To sign up: Please send an email to registration@livingcompassion.org or call 209-728-0860.

September 23 - September 30
Bridgewalk, Open House, Precepts Renewal
After last year’s fun and successful Bridgewalk, we became immediately inspired about the 2006 Bridgewalk. If one hundred walkers can raise $25,000.00 in 2005, let’s go for five hundred walkers to raise over $100,000.00 in 2006. Please note that the Bridgewalk will be in September rather than October—we are hoping for better weather.  We have planned a very special week. We will walk across the bridge on the afternoon of Saturday, September 23.  Then those who would like can travel to Murphys (bringing family and friends) for an Open House. You are welcome to visit the Monastery as much as you would like and explore Calavaras County. On Thursday evening, September the 28, those who have previously taken Precepts are invited to begin a special Precepts Renewal Weekend.

September 23
Fifth Annual Golden Gate Bridgewalk
to Benefit Vulnerable Children In Africa
San Francisco, California

Registration Pledge: $35 for individual adults. Adults with children: $25 for the adult, $15 per child, Groups - $35 for individual adults in the group, adults with children: $25 for the adult, $15 per child.

Includes a Bridgewalk t-shirt and lunch.

To sign up:visit the Registration Pledge Payment page on the LivingCompassion.org website. The last day for registering is September 9. Registrations will not be accepted after this date. When paying your registration pledge please:

• Select Bridgewalk from the drop down list of retreats
• Select September 23, 2006 from the drop down list of start dates

September 24-27
Open House at the Monastery
Stay at the Monastery, if there is room, or stay in town. Families and friends can tour our beautiful area in and around Murphys. We will have tours of our sustainable life-style, updates on the work of Living Compassion, workshops and group discussions, and plenty of good food. Then on the evening of Thursday, Sept 27, those who have taken Precepts can participate in a Precepts Renewal weekend. Those not participating in the weekend can stay in the area, begin their trek home, or continue their travels as they please.

Registration Pledge: $60 per night for overnight stays

To sign up: Send an email to registration@livingcompassion.org or call 209-728-0860 to let us know when you intend to visit

September 28 –  September 30
Precepts Renewal
This is an opportunity for those who have taken the Precepts to renew. Ceremonies will take place on Friday and Saturday, leaving Saturday afternoon and Sunday as travel days.

Registration Pledge: $180

To sign up: please follow the registration instructions on the LivingCompassion.org website. The last day for registering is September 13. Registrations will not be accepted after this date. When filling out your Personal Information Form please:

• Select Monastery Retreat  from the drop down list of retreats
• Select September 27 from the drop down list of start dates

October 13-14
Cheri at Kripalu Center For Yoga and Health
Lenox, Massachusetts
Sign up information to follow

October 25-29
Reaching Critical Mass conference
Palm Springs, CA
Cheri will be a speaker at this event